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  • I just figured, you know, the truth will come out.

  • You know, I'm an innocent man and innocent people don't go to jail.

  • No, I think they said it's for the murder of Leo.

  • Frank.

  • You know I didn't do it.

  • They have nothing else to go on.

  • And I'm the boyfriend.

  • This afternoon, the body of a teenage female tentatively identified as Leah Freeman, was discovered.

  • Whoever did this is to pay if he's claiming he wasn't with her, but we can show he was with her.

  • But he hiden.

  • I had met Leah when I was walking through the jam.

  • She was a freshman and I was a senior.

  • Julia was like a sparkle.

  • He was always in love.

  • In a way, you know, we always had a girl that girls like 10.

  • He was definitely flirting.

  • It was kind of in every girl, but he did seem like he really cared about her.

  • He seemed like okay, kind of guy.

  • But still, the age difference was there.

  • And then I found out that they were being sexually active.

  • That was disturbing.

  • I'll never forget that date.

  • It started out like any normal day.

  • I hadn't seen her for a while.

  • We were still really good friends, but we just didn't hang out as much because she was with Nick a lot.

  • She was at Sherry's and she wanted to go jogging, and I assure you to go with her.

  • Sherry asked her mom and her mom said, No, because every time you do, it comes and picks Leah up and you end up walking home alone.

  • So Leah heard that, and I guess she got mad and started to walk off.

  • She was headed toward the high school spotted by numerous witnesses along the way.

  • The next witness says that around 9:30 p.m. She sees Leah standing outside a pay phone, and there are two men arguing nearby.

  • Next time we see Leah, she's standing outside the gas station, and that's the last time that anyone sees Leo.

  • Several minutes later, witness here's a high pitched screen.

  • It was nine.

  • I went to go over Cherries to go get Leo Master, where Lee Awas.

  • She's probably walking home, you know, I'm sure that if you just drive to her house, you'll find her.

  • So when it gets back into his car and starts driving through the town of Coquille looking for Lee.

  • He did call the house shortly after 10.

  • That night, he said, Is Leo there?

  • And I said, Lien, no, Isn't she with you and you as well?

  • Because it's all right.

  • Don't worry.

  • I'm gonna go find her and I'll bring her home.

  • I mean, I even talked to police twice that night, my headlight was out and I got pulled over for both times.

  • Tolan.

  • I was looking for my girlfriend.

  • I decided to go by Leah's house one more time, and I saw a glare on her on her window.

  • Thought it was her TV back then.

  • It was 2000.

  • It's not like she could send me a text.

  • She couldn't call me on a cell phone, so I thought she was home and I went home after that, and I looked in her room and her bed was empty.

  • His mom, Cory, calls at 7 30 or eight in the morning the next day.

  • Where's Leo?

  • She not here because she didn't come home last night and I said no.

  • Where is she?

  • He was, I don't know.

  • I went into town as quick as I could.

  • I talked to Cory.

  • We went down to the police department.

  • We filed a missing persons report.

  • The police basically told us that Julia was probably a runaway.

  • I knew something was wrong.

  • This girl had no reason to run away.

  • I don't remember what date it was.

  • A police called me.

  • They wanted to talk to me.

  • So of course I'm gonna go in and I'm gonna help him.

  • June 30th.

  • It is 13 48 hours.

  • How would you characterize when she's around me?

  • She just seems like Dryden.

  • Happy go lucky and giggly.

  • And she's just a really good person I started.

  • I have my concerns when it kind of started, I guess, trying to twist my words.

  • But the night that Leo disappeared, it's about 11.

  • 40.

  • Mechanic work, the swing shift.

  • He's driving home.

  • And he saw the shooter lying in the road.

  • That person came forward with the shoe.

  • We showed it to Leo, Sister.

  • She said, I think that's sort of shoe.

  • Then on the Fourth of July, her other shoe is discovered and it's got blood on it.

  • Distance from where the left.

  • She was found on Hudson Ridge, back to the town of Coquille is about 10 mile stretch.

  • When we had that second shoe was her blood on it.

  • But I think everybody felt that this was not gonna.

  • The body of a teenage female, tentatively identified as Leah Freeman, was discovered.

  • Body was in bad condition.

  • It was August 3rd.

  • I got up to Laverne Park and all of a sudden Coquille City cop pulled in, he said.

  • Korea, I didn't take you, I said.

  • They found her.

  • Remember the exact moment I broke down?

  • I just remember that specific moment in time.

  • That's the saddest moment that I've ever gone through.

  • A 50 year old Leah Freeman vanished off the streets of Coquille five weeks ago.

  • Her death is being treated as a homicide, but investigators are saying little else.

  • I think that everybody was quick to point fingers and Nick because he's the most likely person being her boyfriend.

  • Police just aren't able to make any kind of a case stick.

  • As time went by, it slowly became a cold case.

  • Fast forward a year, a new sheriff comes into town and he wants to look into the case.

  • We looked at every person that was identified as a possible suspect in this case.

  • And then we went forward no matter which way we win.

  • At the end of the day, it came back to Nick McGuffin.

  • We're gonna stop by Mr MacGuffin Residence and safeties around.

  • We've interviewed over 100 almost 200 people in the last six months.

  • With all these witnesses coming forward.

  • Police say they're getting information that appears to contradict what Nick has said all along.

  • That he had not seen Leah after he dropped her off at her girlfriend's house around seven o'clock.

  • I have basically drove everywhere for that four hours looking for her, and I didn't see her once.

  • We have several witnesses that actually placed Nick with Leo after nine o'clock.

  • If he's claiming he wasn't with her and after nine o'clock, but we can show he was with her.

  • What's he hiding?

  • With the 10th anniversary of Leah Freeman disappearance and death just days away, authorities here on Coquille say they're now closer than ever to bring justice to this case.

  • I decided to take it to the grand jury, called over 100 and 10 witnesses, and after presenting all this evidence, and he came back and said, Wait, think Nick did it.

  • We think he had to be charged.

  • It was a normal day at work, and I had forgotten a recipe at my house, so I ran home real quick.

  • Noticed I was being followed when I pulled up to my mailbox cars everywhere.

  • What do you think this is all about?

  • Obviously, they said, it's for the murder of Leah.

  • Good live man, Anything you didn't because they have nothing else to go on.

  • I'm the boyfriend.

  • When I got arrested, I feel like a nightmare that I was trying to wake up from.

  • But I never woke up.

  • When we come back, next nightmare comes alive in court.

  • And what, if anything, the defendant tell you that I was strong with that bitch and I'll strangle you to Hi, everyone.

  • George Stephanopoulos Here.

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I just figured, you know, the truth will come out.

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